Journal of Democracy

Abstract:

The autocratic regime in Venezuela has survived despite a multitude of crises. It has done so by relying on classic autocratic tools, but also by deploying what I call "function fusion": granting existing institutions the ability to perform a variety of functions typically reserved for other institutions. The military is acquiring civilian and business functions; organized civilian groups have been given the function of conducting quasi-military operations; a constituent assembly has acquired the function of legislature and ruling party combined; and the state is sharing sovereignty with foreign armed forces and criminal gangs. The regime is adapting the concept of multitasking in the service of twenty-first–century authoritarianism. This is a risky strategy, but so far it has allowed the regime to maintain its repressive rule and keep its coalition intact.